“You could always take some clothes off instead?” he suggests, whispering into my ear. I shiver, feeling the tremble run right through me. Dropping the clothes in my hands to the floor, I turn around to face him, caged between his body and the chest of drawers. He slides a hand behind my neck and pulls me toward him, stopping just before our lips can meet. I lean forward and close the gap between us, gently kissing him as I slide my own hands around his back, feeling his muscles tense under my touch. The kiss doesn’t stay gentle for long. East deepens it as he moves his hands down my body and then slips them back around me, lifting me on top of the chest of drawers. I wrap my legs around him as he presses in close, feeling every inch of him pushed up against me. He moves his hands over my shirt, teasing as he runs his fingertips over the edges of my bra.
I reach up, running my fingers through his soft, light-brown hair. He pulls his lips away from mine, and kisses down my neck, and down to my chest. He tugs my shirt down, continuing to trail kisses and gentle bites across me. The sound of something being knocked over in the next room drags me to my senses.
“Shit, East. We’ve got to stop,” I say, pulling his head back up to look at me.
“Why?” he asks confused. I turn my head to the closed door, knowing Enzo, Logan, and Locke are on the other side. With the dynamic of whatever relationship there is between us not decided, it wouldn’t be fair for me to just do this, would it? That’s not even including my feelings for Mr. Daniels, which are utterly pointless anyway. Sighing, I turn back to East.
“I just can’t. The others . . .,” I begin, but trail off. Unable to complete the sentence. I chew on my lip nervously.
“It’s okay, Kenz. The twins know how I feel, and I know how they feel,” he says, running a soothing hand up and down my back. I stay silent, not able to form the words I want to say. “Enzo too, huh?” he adds gently. I nod mutely. That’s half of it anyway. “We can sort that all out first, then. There’s no rush,” he says, dropping a gentle kiss onto my forehead before untangling our bodies and stepping away. He pulls on his boxers and jeans before stepping back to me and kissing me hard. He steps back again and looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to say something.
“I better get ready for class,” I reply nervously, jumping down off the chest of drawers.
“Yeah, because you showing up late for a class is completely unheard of. Wouldn’t want to ruin your stellar reputation as a star pupil now, would you?” he says teasingly. And just like that, the tension is broken. I laugh.
“Hey! I’m not late to all my classes,” I grumble.
“Really?” he asks.
“Yeah, I show up to Mr. Daniel’s classes on time. I can’t really make up excuses for being late when I live in the cabin with him,” I reply jokingly, grabbing the fresh set of clothes I’d dropped to change into. “What’s the time, anyway?” I ask as I walk towards the door to head to the bathroom for a quick shower.
“Well, you’re already thirty minutes late to fire class,” he says.
“Wait, already thirty minutes late?” I ask, groaning. Just great.
“Luckily, it’s your favourite teacher, Kenz,” he replies sarcastically, as I exit the room.
Shit. Miss Tinder is going to kill me.
Chapter 32
Kenzie
“Mr. Daniels, I’m sure Miss Crowe will be here any moment,” I hear Miss Tinder say as I walk into fire class. The whole class is sitting, talking or playing on their phones, when I walk in. They all stop to look at me with surprise. Hey, it’s not like I don’t turn up to my classes, I’m just usually late. I glance at the clock on the wall. Maybe not this late though.
“Miss Crowe, this is completely unacceptable. You are forty-five minutes late, and I don’t know why I’m not surprised when I should be. Honestly, it’s like you believe your twelve marks make you impervious to the rules of this academy,” she turns to me as she speaks, but my eyes are locked on Mr. Daniels who shakes his head as he looks me over. He looks stressed, today, with his brown hair messy and looks like he has run his fingers through it a few times and his clothes are wrinkled which is unlike him. He’s also missing his glasses, which are normally only off during our training.
“Sorry I’m late,” Enzo says walking into the room after me and not even looking at Mr. Daniels or Miss Tinder as he takes his seat. Miss Tinder doesn’t even look his way, or care that he is late. Just me.
“Outside, now, Miss Crowe,” Mr. Daniels says, just as I go to sit down.
I turn to see him walking out of the classroom and look over at Miss Tinder.
“Go, and don’t be long,” she tells me. I nod and walk out of the classroom, pulling the door closed behind me. I turn to see Mr. Daniels standing in the middle of the empty corridor with his arms crossed and an expression that makes me want to hide. Shit.
“So . . .,” I ask, wondering why he dragged me out here and is giving me this look.
“Miss Crowe . . . I just don’t even know where to start with you,” he says and runs a hand through his hair as he watches me.
“Erm quietly? My head is banging,” I sigh, placing my hand against my head and knowing I should have grabbed some food or something earlier. I didn’t stop when I jumped into the shower and then ran to class. I haven’t had time to even think about everything that happened with Kelly and Ryan. I try to nip that thought in the bud. I can’t even think about it at the moment, as all I want to do is find Kelly and talk to her.
As I watch Mr. Daniels walking over to me, I get what Kelly was talking about when she said you don’t choose who you fall for. You really don’t. Mr. Daniels stops in front of me, placing his hand on my head, and I feel him healing me before stepping away.
“Why did you heal me?” I ask him, relief spreading over me now that my head doesn’t hurt anymore.
“So that I can shout at you for getting drunk with your friends last night in my house,” he says, and I mentally cringe. Shit, he must have come back at some point. When I don’t say anything, he continues. “I came back from the meeting I told you about, to find you dancing on the coffee table,” he tells me. A flashback of last night runs through my mind.
“At least, I had my clothes on, or from what I can remember,” I say, making him groan and look at me closely as I smile at him. We both start laughing after an awkward silence, and he shakes his head.
“What am I going to do with you, Miss Crowe?” he asks, stepping closer to me and placing his hand on my arm.
“What do you want to do, Mr. Daniels?” I ask, not able to stop the tempting words leaving my lips.
“You don’t want to know,” he whispers, his face inches away from mine. I can smell the body wash he uses, the same stuff I used quickly in the shower this morning.
“What’s your first name?” I ask him, not moving as we stand close to each other, our lips inches apart, and my hand moves to rest on his chest without me thinking about it. It just feels natural.
“It’s—” he starts to say, and then he suddenly jumps away when the door is opened behind me.
“I need to start my lesson, Mr. Daniels,” Miss Tinder’s voice says behind me, her voice chipped and annoyed as I turn to see her looking between us.
“We will finish speaking about this later, Miss Crowe,” he says, his tone back to the cold and emotionless tone that I’m used to. I nod, walking back into the classroom and taking the empty seat next to Enzo as he smirks at me.